Systems and methods to combine taxi and landing lights for an aircraft in the same housing as a camera

Abstract

Systems and methods to combine lights and cameras are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may carry a housing that holds both a lighting component and a video camera; receive instructions to operate the lighting component in at least one of two different lighting modes, including a landing lighting mode and a taxi lighting mode; control the video camera to capture video information at a particular frame rate; and control the lighting component to emit light in a manner that supports at least one particular lighting mode and that includes switching off or turning down the lighting component in synchrony with the particular frame rate to reduce glare and/or otherwise improve the captured video information.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system configured to control a lighting component and a video camera carried by a particular aircraft, wherein the lighting component is configured to emit light in at least a first and a second lighting mode, wherein the video camera is configured to capture video information at a particular frame rate, wherein the particular aircraft is operated by a particular aircraft operator, the system comprising:
 one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:
 responsive to the lighting component operating in the first lighting mode, control the lighting component to emit a first amount of light in a first manner; 
 responsive to the lighting component operating in the second lighting mode, control the lighting component to emit a second amount of light in a second manner, wherein the first manner of emitting light is different from the second manner of emitting light; 
 wherein control of the lighting component in the first and the second lighting mode includes switching off or turning down the lighting component in synchrony with the particular frame rate of the video camera such that the video information is captured by the video camera at moments when the lighting component emits between 0% and 5% of the first amount of light. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first lighting mode supports taking off and landing of the particular aircraft, and wherein the second lighting mode supports taxiing of the particular aircraft. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to:
 control the video camera to capture the video information at the particular frame rate. 
 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to:
 receive, from the particular aircraft operator, an instruction to operate the lighting component in the first lighting mode; and 
 control the lighting component to operate in the first lighting mode. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to:
 receive, from the particular aircraft operator, a second instruction to operate the lighting component in the second lighting mode; and 
 control the lighting component to operate in the second lighting mode. 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the lighting component and the video camera are held in a housing that is carried by the particular aircraft. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , further comprising the particular aircraft, the housing, the lighting component, and the video camera. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the lighting components includes a set of lighting elements, wherein the set of lighting elements includes a first subset of lighting elements and a second subset of lighting elements, and wherein individual ones of the set of lighting elements are light-emitting diode (LED) lights. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein controlling the lighting component to emit the first amount of light in the first manner includes controlling the first subset of lighting elements, and wherein controlling the lighting component to emit the second amount of light in the second manner includes controlling the second subset of lighting elements. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first amount of light is greater than the second amount of light,
 wherein the first manner of emitting light produces a first beam having a first angle width, 
 wherein the second manner of emitting light produces a second beam having a second angle width, 
 wherein the first angle width is different from the second angle width. 
 
     
     
       11. A method of controlling a lighting component and a video camera carried by a particular aircraft, wherein the lighting component emits light in at least a first and a second lighting mode, wherein the video camera captures video information at a particular frame rate, wherein the particular aircraft is operated by a particular aircraft operator, the method comprising:
 responsive to the lighting component operating in the first lighting mode, controlling the lighting component to emit a first amount of light in a first manner; and 
 responsive to the lighting component operating in the second lighting mode, controlling the lighting component to emit a second amount of light in a second manner, wherein the first manner of emitting light is different from the second manner of emitting light, 
 wherein controlling the lighting component in the first and the second lighting modes includes switching off or turning down the lighting component in synchrony with the particular frame rate of the video camera such that the video information is captured by the video camera at moments when the lighting component emits between 0% and 5% of the first amount of light. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first lighting mode supports taking off and landing of the particular aircraft, and wherein the second lighting mode supports taxiing of the particular aircraft. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 controlling the video camera to capture the video information at the particular frame rate. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the particular aircraft operator, an instruction to operate the lighting component in the first lighting mode; and 
 controlling the lighting component to operate in the first lighting mode. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the particular aircraft operator, a second instruction to operate the lighting component in the second lighting mode; and 
 controlling the lighting component to operate in the second lighting mode. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the lighting component and the video camera are held in a housing that is carried by the particular aircraft. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the lighting components includes a set of lighting elements, wherein the set of lighting elements includes a first subset of lighting elements and a second subset of lighting elements. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein individual ones of the set of lighting elements are light-emitting diode (LED) lights. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein controlling the lighting component to emit the first amount of light in the first manner includes controlling the first subset of lighting elements, and wherein controlling the lighting component to emit the second amount of light in the second manner includes controlling the second subset of lighting elements. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first amount of light is greater than the second amount of light,
 wherein the first manner of emitting light produces a first beam having a first angle width, 
 wherein the second manner of emitting light produces a second beam having a second angle width, 
 wherein the first angle width is different from the second angle width.